Pakistan Cricket Board hands out five year ban to Sharjeel Khan in spot-fixing case

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken a strong approach to remove match-fixing after they handed out five-year ban to former opening batsman Sharjeel Khan.  The player was  found guilty of spot-fixing in the second edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) staged in February in 2017.

PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit have put five charges on the batsman including his role to fix games in the second edition of PSL. He has been banned for five years which means that he won’t be able to play any kind of  cricket during this duration. The three-tribunal member that included former PCB chairman Tauqeer Zia and former wicket-keeper Wasim Bari that handed out the punishment to Sharjeel after being found of spot-fixing.

PCB officials speaking to the media clearly stated that Sharjeel deliberately played out two dot balls in the opening game of the Pakistan Super League held earlier this year. The player could have been served a much longer ban than the given by the tribunal.

Khalid Latif who is a colleague of Sharjeel as both players represented Islamabad United for the first two editions of PSL. The right-handed batsman might also suffer a similar fate as Sharjeel Khan after failing to comply with the authorities on the matter of spot fixing during the league this year.

Nasir Jamshed and Shahzaib Hasan are the remaining two players who have been accused of wrongdoing in the second edition of the PSL. Left-arm pacer Mohammad Irfan was the first among the five players to be banned as he failed to inform the authorities after being approached by the bookie to fix games during the second edition of PSL.

The detailed report of the judgement on all the players will be released by Pakistan Cricket Board in the coming months once inquiry is complete.